Distracted Driving

On Monday, a distracted driver will talk for the first time about the crash that killed a 33-year-old mother. Last June, 25-year-old Christopher Weber picked up his cell phone to make a bank transaction while he was driving in Rock County.

Distracted driving killed 48 people on Minnesota roads last year. A texting teenager nearly made that number 49. Shyann Ericksen hit another car head-on in Eagan last summer. She sat down with WCCO-TV to talk about the crash.

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety says more than 900 drivers were cited for distracted driver during their six-day enforcement period last week. Officials say 909 people were pulled over and ticketed between April 13 and April 18 for texting and driving in the state.

A Hatton woman accused of causing a fatal crash while using her cellphone while driving will not spend time in jail. Twenty-year-old Abby Sletten had faced a felony negligent homicide charge in the May 2014 death of 89-year-old Phyllis Gordon, of Ada, Minnesota.

With prom season upon us, high school students are hearing about the effects of drinking and driving. Mock crashes are common this time of year, but a Twin Cities high school is taking theirs to new heights.

Police across Minnesota are stepping up enforcement this week against distracted drivers. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety says most accidents are caused by drivers using cellphones, GPS navigation, music controls or eating and drinking.

The husband of a woman killed by a distracted driver urges people to put the phone down while they’re on the road. Thirty-three-year-old Andrea Boeve of Steen was riding her bike, pulling her two daughters behind her, when she was struck and killed in late June. The driver of the pickup truck that hit them admitted he was doing banking on his phone at the time. Last week, Christopher Weber pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide.

A former South Dakota National Guardsman has pleaded guilty in a distracted driving crash that killed a Minnesota cyclist. Twenty-five-year-old Christopher Weber of Brandon, South Dakota, entered the plea Monday in Rock County court to criminal vehicular homicide.

Just because you can talk to your car, doesn’t mean you should. Two new studies, out Tuesday morning, take a look at technology aimed at preventing distracted-driving. But those studies say they’re actually making the problem worse.

Most of the things to do at the Minnesota State Fair are fun and entertaining, but there are other features that aim to teach you a lesson. Nina Moini visited an interactive exhibit that serves as a wakeup call for Minnesotans about the dangers of distracted driving.

Senator Amy Klobuchar announced new legislation Saturday that will crack down on distracted driving. The bipartisan legislation introduced by Klobuchar will help fund extra enforcement and public education on distracted driving.

A 25-year-old South Dakota man was charged Wednesday with criminal vehicular homicide in a crash that killed a woman who was bicycling with her two daughters in southwestern Minnesota. Authorities believe Christopher Weber of Madison, South Dakota, was distracted by his cellphone.

Body shops are a busy place to be after that first major snow and ice combination of the year. They’re busy now, and it will likely stay that way until spring. Bob and Carl’s Auto Body and Glass in Osseo looks like a car infirmary, with broken headlights, missing taillights and everything in between. Tony Smith, co-owner at Bob & Carl’s, says the work is piling up. “Still spinning out and we’re still getting work,” Smith said. “Cars are being towed in.”

Vijay Dixit is comforted sitting in a memorial garden created in his daughter’s honor. Shreya was 19 and a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and was coming home with a friend who was driving. The driver crashed.

Prosecutors in southern Minnesota are recommending four years in prison for a man who has pleaded guilty to charges in a car crash that killed two women, including one who witnesses say he was having sex with while driving.